Filecoin Foundation Announces 50,000 FIL donation to the Internet Archive

Filecoin Foundation issues donation to support Internet Archive's efforts to provide universal access to all knowledge

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Apr 01, 2021, 16:00 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, April 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Filecoin Foundation, an independent organization designed to govern the Filecoin ecosystem and promote the growth of the decentralized web, is proud to announce a 50,000 FIL donation to the Internet Archive, one of the largest libraries in the world. This unrestricted grant is designed to advance the work of the Internet Archive, whose mission is to provide universal access to all knowledge.

The Internet Archive runs dozens of projects, including: the Wayback Machine, a repository of 475 billion web pages; OpenLibrary.org, a free, digital lending library of over 4.6 million eBooks; Software Collections, designed to preserve and provide access to rare or difficult to find software titles that enable gamers to play them through emulation; and Community Webs, which trains, supports, and provides web archiving resources to public librarians at institutions across the U.S. and Canada. The Internet Archive also hosts the Filecoin Archives, a community-led project to curate, disseminate and preserve important open access to information often at risk of being lost.

The Filecoin Foundation's contribution to the Internet Archive will advance the mission of both organizations to preserve humanity's most valuable information and improve access to information online.

"The Filecoin Foundation team is honored to work alongside the Internet Archive to advance our common goal of preserving the web and fostering its future," said Marta Belcher, board chair of Filecoin Foundation.

"Libraries have always used the technology of the day, whether it's cuneiform back in Sumerian Babylonian times, or papyrus paper, or microfilm. Today, the Internet Archive is built on hard drives. Our hope is that new technologies like Filecoin will revolutionize the storage market and decentralize it. We are thrilled to collaborate with an organization that shares a like-minded approach," said Brewster Kahle, founder and digital librarian of the Internet Archive.

In addition to this grant, Kahle and Wendy Hanamura, director of partnerships at the Internet Archive, have joined the boards of advisors for the Filecoin Foundation, as well as the Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the growth of the decentralized web and Web3 protocols.

The Filecoin Foundation's donation will help bolster the online library of the Internet Archive by increasing access to books, data, web pages, music, television, software, and more. The Filecoin Foundation selected the Internet Archive due to its commitment to support programs that have the potential to change the landscape of knowledge, storage, and access, especially in communities that have precious histories and stories that need to be archived for future generations.

About the Filecoin Foundation

Filecoin is a decentralized storage system designed to store humanity's most important information. The creators of Filecoin envisioned an independent foundation that would serve as the long-term governance body for the Filecoin ecosystem. Its original mandate was to "grow an open ecosystem for decentralized storage" and "give developers an open and sustainable platform to build, enhance and monetize those services." The Filecoin Foundation (FF) is an independent organization that facilitates governance of the Filecoin network, funds critical development projects, supports the growth of the Filecoin ecosystem, and advocates for Filecoin and the decentralized web. FF does this by coordinating and supporting the creation and improvement of open-source software and open protocols for decentralized data storage and retrieval networks.

About the Internet Archive

The Internet Archive is one of the largest libraries in the world and home of the Wayback Machine, a repository of 475 billion web pages. Founded in 1996 by Internet Hall of Fame member Brewster Kahle, the Internet Archive now serves more than 1.5 million patrons each day, providing access to 70+ petabytes of data—books, web pages, music, television and software—and working with more than 800 library and university partners to create a digital library, accessible to all.

SOURCE Filecoin Foundation